The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 eBook

father to proceed (thus) along a way whence there is
no return?—­Hearing these words of Urvasi,
and attending to their import, Suka, that foremost
of all persons conversant with duties, cast his eyes
on all sides, and once more beheld the entire welkin,
the whole Earth with her mountains and waters and
forests, and also all the lakes and rivers. All
the deities also of both sexes, joining their hands,
paid reverence to the son of the Island-born Rishi
and gazed at him with wonder and respect. That
foremost of all righteous men, Suka, addressing all
of them, said these words,—­If my sire follow
me and repeatedly call after me by my name, do all
of you together return him an answer for me.
Moved by the affection all of you bear for me, do you
accomplish this request of mine!—­Hearing
these words of Suka, all the points of the compass,
all the forest, all the seas, all the rivers, and all
the mountains, answered him from every side, saying,—­We
accept thy command, O regenerate one! It shall
be as thou sayst! It is in this way that we answer
the words spoken by the Rishi!

SECTION CCCXXXIV

“Bhishma said, ’Having spoken in this
way (unto all things), the regenerate Rishi of austere
penances, viz., Suka, stayed on his success casting
off the four kinds of faults. Casting off also
the eight kinds of Tamas, he dismissed the five kinds
of Rajas. Endued with great intelligence, he
then cast off the attribute of Sattwa. All this
seemed exceedingly wonderful. He then dwelt in
that eternal station that is destitute of attributes,
freed from every indication, that is, in Brahma, blazing
like a smokeless fire. Meteors began to shoot.
The points of the compass seemed to be ablaze.
The Earth trembled. All those phenomena seemed
exceedingly wonderful. The trees began to cast
off their branches and the mountains their summits.
Loud-reports (as of thunder) were heard that seemed
to rive the Himavat mountains. The sun seemed
at that moment to be shorn of splendour. Fire
refused to blaze forth. The lakes and rivers
and seas were all agitated. Vasava poured showers
of rain of excellent taste and fragrance. A pure
breeze began to blow, bearing excellent perfumes.
Suka as he proceeded through the welkin, beheld two
beautiful summits, one belonging to Himavat and another
to Meru. These were in close contact with each
other. One of them was made of gold and was,
therefore yellow; the other was white, being made of
silver. Each of them, O Bharata, was a hundred
yojanas in height and of the same measure in breadth.
Indeed, as Suka journeyed towards the north, he saw
those two beautiful summits. With a fearless
heart he dashed against those two summits that were
united with each other. Unable to bear the force,
the summits were suddenly rent in twain. The
sight they thereupon presented, O monarch, was exceedingly
wonderful to behold. Suka pierced through those
summits, for they were unable to stop his onward course.